✝️ The Authority of Truth and the Betrayal of the Magisterium: Infallibility Against Innovation
The second chapter of this monumental work by Rama Coomaraswamy opens with an exhortation against despair in the face of the current confusion within the Church. The author recalls that, in divine wisdom, evil is permitted so that a greater good may be drawn from it, quoting Saint Augustine and the Exultet hymn: "O happy fault, which gained for us so great a Redeemer." However, lest we succumb to the darkness of modernism, Holy Mother Church has provided us with clear guidelines through her Magisterium. The purpose of this chapter is to dissect the nature, purpose, and infallible authority of the Authentic Magisterium, contrasting it with contemporary errors that attempt to subvert it and disorient the faithful flock.
📜 The Nature and Infallibility of the Magisterium
The Church is the living presence of Christ in the world, as He conferred upon the Apostles the qualities of Teacher, Ruler, and Priest. Christ demanded absolute obedience to His teaching, warning that "he who does not believe will be condemned" (Mark 16:16). Coomaraswamy immediately establishes that the greatest error in vogue today is the erroneous idea that the Ordinary Magisterium of the Church is not infallible. To refute this heresy, the author cites Pope Leo XIII in the encyclical Satis Cognitum, which teaches that Christ instituted a living, authentic, and perennial Magisterium, whose teachings must be received as if they were those of Christ Himself. This authority is not a suggestion, but a divine imperative that sustains the structure of the Faith.
The author distinguishes two modes of the Magisterium that make up the Church's doctrinal body: the Solemn or Extraordinary, which comprises the dogmatic definitions of Ecumenical Councils or the Pope's ex cathedra pronouncements, and the Ordinary and Universal, which is the daily and continuous teaching of the Church, manifested in the consensus of the Fathers, the traditional liturgy, and universal customs. The First Vatican Council decreed that both must be believed with divine and Catholic faith. Coomaraswamy fiercely attacks modern theologians who attempt to limit infallibility only to solemn pronouncements, leaving the field open for error in daily teaching. He categorically states that if the Magisterium could in any way be false, an evident contradiction would follow, for then God Himself would be the author of error in man, which is impossible given His perfection.
🛡️ The Limits of Papal Authority
The infallibility of the Pope does not derive from his private person or his particular opinions, but from his function as Vicar of Christ, forming "one single hierarchical person" with Our Lord. However, the author makes a crucial reservation, often ignored by defenders of the "new church": the Pope's power is not absolute in the sense that he can teach novelties at his pleasure. His authority is strictly limited by his charge to preserve the Deposit of Faith (Depositum Fidei). Vatican I, in the constitution Pastor Aeternus, makes it clear that the Holy Spirit was not promised to the successors of Peter so that they might manifest a new doctrine, but so that they might holily guard and faithfully expound the revelation transmitted by the Apostles.
Therefore, if a Pope attempts to change the Faith or introduce novelties that contradict Tradition, he steps outside the limits of his ministerial function. A Pope who openly embraces doctrines that contradict this deposit becomes a public heretic and, theologically, loses his authority, for one cannot be the head of a body of which one is not a member. Obedience to the Pope is conditioned upon his own obedience to Christ and the immutable Tradition of the Church; when the guide wanders from the marked path, the faithful are not obliged to follow him into the abyss.
🐍 Private Judgment and the Deification of Man
The text moves toward a devastating critique of "private judgment," a Protestant principle adopted by modernism and ratified by Vatican II. Truth is objective and external to man; it is not an "inner feeling" or a subjective experience. The author denounces that Vatican II, by proclaiming that man should be guided by his own judgment in religious matters through "religious freedom," instituted a revolt against the sovereignty of God. This paradigm shift replaces Theocentrism with Anthropocentrism, placing individual conscience above Divine Revelation.
Coomaraswamy describes the satanic process by which modern man, seduced by the serpent's promise ("you shall be as gods"), placed himself at the center of the universe. Morality became subjective and truth became relative. The author cites Paul VI's declaration at the moon landing as proof of this inversion: "honor to man... king of the earth... and today, prince of heaven!". Where Catholic tradition demands that man conform his mind to Divine Reality, the new religion demands that reality conform to the whims of modern man. A Catholic cannot deny any truth that the Church teaches; he must accept them all, for those who claim that the Ordinary Magisterium can contain error act as wolves in sheep's clothing.
🤝 The Unity of the Church and False Ecumenism
Addressing the mark of Unity, the author clarifies that the Church is One because all her members agree on the same Faith, use the same sacrifice, and are united under one Head, which is Christ. The new church, however, claims to have lost this unity and seeks a false "restoration" through modern ecumenism. The text cites the conciliar decree Unitatis Redintegratio as a grave rupture, where it is stated that the Church of Christ merely "subsists" in the Catholic Church, erroneously suggesting that other heretical or schismatic ecclesial communities also belong to the Church of Christ.
Coomaraswamy counters this novelty with the perennial doctrine that the Unity of the Church is absolute and indivisible. The Church has never lost her unity and never can, as it is an essential property of her divine nature. If the current hierarchy preaches division or seeks a unity based on doctrinal compromise and not on integral Truth, it demonstrates that it has apostatized. As reinforced by Cardinal Manning, no unity is possible except by the path of truth, for mere diplomatic union does not constitute the supernatural Unity desired by Our Lord.
⚖️ The Current Dilemma and the Necessity of Choice
The chapter culminates in an analysis of the tragic situation of the post-conciliar Catholic, where the faithful are forced to choose between two Magisteriums: the Authentic Magisterium of all time and the conciliar pseudo-magisterium. The author argues that Vatican II teaches doctrines that directly contradict the constant teaching of the Church, such as religious freedom and the very definition of the Mass in the Novus Ordo Missae. This contradiction is not merely apparent, but substantial, requiring from the faithful a rigorous discernment anchored in two millennia of tradition.
One cannot accept the "evolution of dogma" in the modernist fashion; what was true yesterday must be true today. If the new church teaches something different from what was always taught, it reveals itself as false in its claim. The author severely warns against blind obedience, reminding us that obedience is a moral virtue subordinate to the theological virtues of Faith, Hope, and Charity. Obeying an authority that destroys the Faith is a sin and a betrayal of Christ.
The text ends with a condemnation of those who try to "sit on the fence," refusing to judge heterodox doctrine out of false piety or fear of consequences. The Church has provided all the criteria necessary to discern truth from error: sacramental integrity has been violated, the Mass of All Time has been replaced by a Protestantized rite, and apostolic succession has been cast into doubt by dubious rites. In the final analysis, the Church has not left us orphans. To argue that rejecting the heterodox teachings of the post-conciliar occupants leads to denying the indefectibility of the Church is irrational. On the contrary: to accept them is to proclaim that the Church has indeed deserted its mission. Everyone must, finally, choose between Barabbas and Christ.